Is Petran, a northeastern Turkish village, the birthplace of snowboarding?

Lazboard or Petranboard, named after the village of Petran, which discovered it, is an innovative form of snowboarding in which a steering rope is attached to a wooden plank. The planks have been ridden by locals of all ages in this town for the past 300 years. Located in the foothills of the Kaçkar Mountains on the Petran Plateau, which stands at an altitude of 2,200 meters, this small village in Rize, once named Petran but now referred to as Meşeköy, has a community that has been snowboarding on handmade wooden boards for over 300 years.



This sport is now the subject of a 15-minute documentary that is going viral, called "Foothills: The Unlinked Heritage of Snowboarding," shot by professional snowboarder and Patagonia ambassadors Alex Yoder and Nick Russell with friends Wade Dunstan and David Cleeland from the production company WRKSHRT. The group is trying "to unravel the mystery linked to the genesis of snowboarding" in a "tale of a mythical snowboard culture passionate about riding and making turns even though we are some 6,500 miles away," Alex says in his personal and captivating narrative covering the footage of the pro-snowboarder and his crew trying out Lazboard for themselves as well as drinking tea, dancing and sharing in traditions with the locals from this remote and ancient Black Sea village, which may very well have discovered one of the earliest forms of snowboarding.

"A movement was born and the people of Petran created a reality all on their own," says Alex, asking, "Could this be the original snowboard?" Released in September, the documentary is now being shown at festivals around the world and Alex Yoder and his team are touring to international destinations, such as London to, through the film, explore how sustainable, environmental design can reduce our impact on the planet and influence positive life choices and ask the question "What can we learn about living simply from Turkey's 300-year-old snowboarding scene?



Referred to as "Üzme tahtası," a plank that slides and floats, the "Lazboard," with Laz in reference to Turkey's distinct and characteristic Black Sea region, is simplistic in design and has virtually maintained its original construction. This snow-sliding apparatus has a rope attached to the front as a handle and its skiers also like to use a skiing pole, or in most cases, simply a stick to help guide them. There are various stories behind how it all started some three centuries ago, with local legend attributing it to a boy who had devised an innovative way of washing rugs in the snow by standing on a wooden plank. Nonetheless, its heyday had waned among most locals up until this past decade with the arrival of Heliskiing on the slopes in the region, rekindling the locals' interest in their own innovative yet forgotten sport.

The random phenomenon of this sport that developed in a small logging village on the foothills of the Kaçkar Mountains, has suddenly resurfaced over the past decade with a close-knit community of locals that double as skiers of all ages coming together in the winter months to take to the slopes in their own unique style. Every year in January a festival is held in the village celebrated as the birthplace of snowboarding. Going into its ninth year, the Petranboard Skiing Festival will take place in Rize on Jan. 26, where visitors can watch the locals display their skills and those intrigued can give it a go themselves while also engaging in Black Sea culture, music and of course the obligatory "halay" dance.

As for how Alex and his team ended up in Petran, it was through a single connection on Facebook he says emphasizing that he wanted to travel somewhere unexplored and largely untouched to see what he could learn from a simpler, less environmentally harmful way of life. "When I boil it all done, the feeling that resonates is the universal language of shared experience, the uninhibited kindness of the Turkish people that welcomed us into their homes for tea and pulled us into their circles to dance with nothing but smiles and nods to communicate," says Alex, whose enjoyment of the experience is evident in his glowing participation on the slopes, engaging with locals and being pulled in to the eminent "halay" circle.

But Alex Yoder and his crew are not the first to shed light on this culture in the international snowboarding sphere as six years ago pro-snowboarder Jeremy Jones also had a short-documentary on YouTube called "Jeremy Jones Doing LazBoard in Turkey" shot six years ago on the slopes of the once Petran, now Meşeköy. The Black Sea region is a majestic one with Turkey's spectacular mountains meeting its stunning coast. Their culture and traditions are distinct and honorable and being the ones to discover a sport such as snowboarding should actually come as no surprise. However, the lesser known fact that locals from the Black Sea coastal regions may have also discovered the sport of surfing a millennium ago goes to show that there is something in the land and atmosphere of that region that lends to innovation. Viya, an ancient form of bodysurfing that emerged in the region during the Pontic era around 700 BC can still be seen practiced today in the summer months by locals on the Black Sea coast.